java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.aspectj.util.PartialOrder$PartialComparable

Question

I am using Spring 4.2.4.RELEASE in my web application and I would like to remove the dependency on aspectjweaver.jar from it. I don't use AOP directly and I certainly don't use AspectJ. But my application fails with the following exception:

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.aspectj.util.PartialOrder$PartialComparable
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:381)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:424)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:357)
at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppClassLoader.loadClass(WebAppClassLoader.java:450)
at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppClassLoader.loadClass(WebAppClassLoader.java:403)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:760)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:467)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:73)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:368)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:362)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:361)
at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppClassLoader.findClass(WebAppClassLoader.java:510)
at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppClassLoader.loadClass(WebAppClassLoader.java:441)
at org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppClassLoader.loadClass(WebAppClassLoader.java:403)
at org.springframework.aop.aspectj.autoproxy.AspectJAwareAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.sortAdvisors(AspectJAwareAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:73)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.findEligibleAdvisors(AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:91)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.getAdvicesAndAdvisorsForBean(AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:69)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAutoProxyCreator.wrapIfNecessary(AbstractAutoProxyCreator.java:346)
at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAutoProxyCreator.postProcessAfterInitialization(AbstractAutoProxyCreator.java:298)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyBeanPostProcessorsAfterInitialization(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:422)

Is the any way to completely remove the dependency on aspectjweaver.jar ?

Answer 1

I encountered this problem when using the @Transactional annotation on a class annotated with @Component in Spring Boot similar to: https://spring.io/guides/gs/managing-transactions/

The easiest way to fix it is to add the proper Maven dependency:

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.aspectj</groupId>
  <artifactId>aspectjweaver</artifactId>
  <version>1.8.9</version>
</dependency>

Answer 2

Is there any way to completely remove the dependency on aspectjweaver.jar ?

No, you cannot. You are using Spring AOP. The Spring project spring-aop does have a hard dependency on aspectjweaver.jar . Read the Spring-aop docs that clearly identifies it as a dependency.

Answer 3

The answer is no. Spring AOP is syntactically an AspectJ subset, thus it uses AspectJ classes for parsing pointcuts. It also exposes AspectJ classes like JoinPoint , ProceedingJoinPoint and AspectJ annotations like @Poinctut , @Before , @After , @Around , @DeclareParents etc.